Passing praise

It is official. Keith Price is a “Pac-12 level” quarterback. No, it isn’t because of the 11 touchdowns he’s thrown in the first three games this season. It’s not because of the 691 yards he’s passed for in those games. It’s not because he’s shown toughness playing through sprains to both knees.

Nope. It’s because when the praise came for Price this week, he quickly tossed it to his teammates, as if facing an opposing blitz.

Make mention of the fact that the 11 touchdown passes are tied for the most in the NCAA with Matt Schilz of Bowling Green, and Price sidesteps any congratulations the way he would an on-rushing opposing defensive end.

“Guys are getting open for me, the line is doing a great job. I don’t have to do much but throw it to the open guy,” Price said. “That’s what I’ve been doing.”

He makes it sound so simple. In reality, it isn’t. In the dozens of Football Bowl Championship (FBS) games that have been played this season, plenty of quarterbacks have had more than enough time to throw to myriad open receivers – and they haven’t done what Price has done.

No previous Washington quarterback has done what Price has done in his first three games. Price is the only University of Washington quarterback to throw for 11 touchdowns in a span of three consecutive games.

That means Sonny Sixkiller, Warren Moon, Chris Chandler, Billy Joe Hobert, Brock Huard, Mark Brunell, Cody Pickett and even Jake Locker never had such a run of passing success.

So, does any of it surprise you?

“Guys are getting open for me,” Price says flashing his grin.

So, if Price isn’t willing to talk about himself, someone has to be willing to sing his praises.

Coach Steve Sarkisian certainly isn’t afraid to extol his starting quarterback, who will in turn just direct the kudos toward others.

“He’s playing phenomenal football for us right now,” Sarkisian said. “He’s been lights out. He’s managed the game extremely well – his demeanor, his command, his competitiveness.”

To be fair, this early success is a little unexpected.

Sure Price looked better than average in his forced start against Oregon last season when Locker couldn’t go. And he came in and threw a touchdown pass against USC when Locker was shaken up. Price did all the right things in spring practice and fall camp to take control of the job. Husky coaches knew how much he progressed and knew he was ready to step into the most important of all positions.

And yet, nothing is definite in football, particularly for quarterbacks. Sarkisian admitted before the season began, that he was curious to see how Price would handle it – being “the guy.”

Any doubts have obviously been assuaged.

“He’s all we ever could have asked for up until this point,” Sarkisian said.

Without Price, the Huskies would likely be 0-3.

“I think we learned a lot about Keith Price through the first quarter of the season,” Sarkisian said.

What exactly is it we’ve learned?

We’ve learned that Price can play through pain. He suffered a sprained right knee against Eastern Washington the first week. He hobbled his way through that win, throwing for 102 yards and three touchdowns despite Sarkisian dialing back the playbook.

With his knee about 70 percent healthy, Price completed 18 of 25 passes for 315 yards and four touchdowns against Hawaii in a 40-32 win.

In last week’s loss to Nebraska, Price sprained his left knee in the third quarter and still gutted it out, throwing for 274 yards on 21-of-37 passing with four touchdowns.

This week, he has limped his way through practice with a brace on the left knee and a wad of tape on his right knee, all the while guaranteeing he will play Saturday against California, saying simply, “I’m playing.”

It makes Sarkisian smile when asked about it.

“You learn to live through some of the injuries and the pain and whatnot that you have,” Sarkisian said. “He’s a tough kid, he’s got a play-making ability about him, and I think his teammates have learned a lot about him and have rallied behind him as well.”

Some of them didn’t need to see that this week to know that about Price.

“I really haven’t learned anything about Keith, because I knew he was a competitor and he’s going to battle,” running back Chris Polk said. “I know he’s going to stay in there whether his knee’s hurting or not.”

It’s the competitive nature of Price that gets kind of overlooked because of his outgoing and upbeat personality.

“You should see him play basketball,” Sarkisian said. “He doesn’t ever want to lose. All of us took the loss very difficult on Saturday, but I don’t know if anybody took it any harder than he did. That one hurt him. He’s got a real passion.”

And he’s far from a finished product. He has exceeded expectations despite being 100 percent healthy for about one quarter of the first game. Think about this: Price still has two more seasons after this year.

“I just think he is playing well and he will continue to play well. I believe it is part of the process and the way he has prepared himself for the opportunity,” offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier said. “Obviously the quarterback, when things are going well, he gets a lot of the glory, and when they are not going well, they take a lot more of the heat than they should. And that’s just the nature of the beast and the nature of the position.”

But it’s not Price’s nature.

So, Keith, one more question. About those 11 touchdown passes?

“Like I said, guys are just getting open for me,” he says, and nothing more.

Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483 ryan.divish@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/uwsports